


As Long as You're Safe

by sistershine



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate ending to 2x22, Caitlin being a doctor, F/M, Fix-It, Hurt Mon-El, Protective Kara, Sappy, That pod scene just made me really sad okay, Why didn't they just use the portal generator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 02:05:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14945567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sistershine/pseuds/sistershine
Summary: When Mon-El is dying of lead poisoning, Kara comes up with a plan to save him.





	As Long as You're Safe

“Supergirl, they’ve locked onto every school, hospital, and municipal building in the city. They’re going to destroy everything.”

Rhea looked back at her, smirking.

Kara felt her heart shattering. _No, no no_. She needed more time. She couldn’t _do_ this. But as she stood, watching her city burn, she knew with a cold certainty she had to. Mon-El nodded once – knowing what needed to be done.

“I’m so sorry.” Her eyes met his as she hit the switch Lena had given her. One tiny movement of her thumb. As Rhea disappeared, Kara was vaguely aware of the Daxamite soldiers leaving, of the ships leaving, but her horror was fixed on Mon-El.

As he collapsed, coughing, her eyes fluttered over him. “I’m going to take you somewhere safe,” she promised.

“It’s okay,” Mon-El managed.

“Alex,” Kara heard the wild desperation in her voice but didn’t care. “Do something! Tell me what to do!” She couldn’t think. Oh _Rao_ , why couldn’t she _think?_ Even as Supergirl saved the day, Kara Zor-El felt her whole world disintegrating.

“Kara, there’s nothing to do. The entire atmosphere’s been affected.” Alex’s voice was soft and sad, and yet somehow this gave Kara an idea.

Mon-El coughed again, his entire body heaving. “If the entire atmosphere’s been affected, I have to take him somewhere with a better atmosphere.” Kara said the words as quickly as she could. _“WINN.”_

“Yeah?” Winn sounded confused.

_“Bring me Cisco’s portal maker. Hurry._ ”

“Actually, Cisco didn’t make-” Winn seemed to think better of himself, wisely realizing there were much more important ways of spending his time than correcting her. “Yes, ma’am.”

Kara’s heart hammered against her chest; she could feel Mon-El’s skin burning under her trembling hands. He met her eyes with a difficulty that terrified her. His eyes were too glassy. _What if this didn’t work? What if they couldn’t get to the portal in time?_

“Mon-El, you _have_ to stay with me,” she begged. “They’ll be here soon, okay? You’re going to be fine, I promise.”

He looked like he was going to try to say something, but she gently pressed a finger to his lips. “No, no, don’t talk. Just save your energy.”

He coughed, gasping for air that was now filled with the very toxin that was killing him. He was going to try again, she could tell. “K-Kara…” He gasped again.

She felt like crying. This wasn’t _fair_. Very little in her life had been fair, but this was just… so cruel. Mon-El was just beginning to find a home here on Earth. With _her._

She heard a familiar _whooshing_ noise, and looked up to see Clark landing on their rooftop. He handed her the portal maker wordlessly, and she loved him for that. He understood what she needed right now. This time her hands did not fumble; she pressed the button as rapidly as she could, and the familiar blue portal appeared.

Kara gathered Mon-El in her arms, realizing with horror that his body was now limp. He had to just be unconscious. She prayed to Rao, but didn’t have time to check for a pulse. She wanted to scream, or cry, but she couldn’t. She was going to save him. Just like how she had saved everyone else. She ran through the portal with speed that would’ve made Barry proud.

Cisco and Caitlin looked up in surprise as she appeared in S.T.A.R. labs. The surprise on Caitlin’s face quickly turned to an expression of medical determination – one that Kara recognized as an expression very similar to Alex’s when she had a patient.

“Bring him in there,” Caitlin gestured to a side room. Kara deposited the limp Mon-El on the waiting bed as gently as she could.

“What happened?” Caitlin asked even as she began sticking tubes in him. (Just the fact that Caitlin _could_ break his skin right now was so wrong, and twisted in her gut.)

“Lead-poisoning,” Kara managed.

Caitlin nodded, her hands flying over Mon-El’s body.

“Is he…?”

Caitlin’s mouth tightened. “He’s alive. Barely.”

Kara felt like she could breathe again. “Thank Rao. I don’t know what I’d do if…”

Caitlin spared her a kind glance. “He should make it. I’ll do everything I can.” Kara felt a little bit more of the weight lift off her chest. She nodded.

_“Thank you.”_

* * *

Caitlin hooked up Mon-El to a machine that was slowly draining the lead particles out of his system. They hastily fastened a yellow-sun lamp. Kara waited. Cisco brought her a powdery donut. Barry came by and sat with her, distracting her with crazy stories from his Earth. When Kara told them what had happened, Iris squeezed her shoulder in a silent apology.

Through it all, Kara stayed by his side. She felt his hand go from feverishly hot to his normal warm, and with each degree of cooling she felt a little better.

When he blinked, opening his eyes again, Kara felt whole once more. His eyes found Kara’s, and he smiled the kind of dopey smile that the two of them had been giving each other a lot lately. She pressed a kiss to his forehead, smiling back.

“Are we in… S.T.A.R. labs?” Mon-El began observing his surroundings.

Kara nodded, squeezing his hand. “I needed to get you somewhere safe. Like I promised.”

Mon-El smiled. “So I guess I’m not dead then.”

She shook her head, her heart clenching again as she remembered how close he’d come. “Not dead,” she agreed. She looked out the glass window at her friends from Team Flash, who seemed to be too intent on playing some sort of card game to pay any attention to them. She felt her smile fade a little. “But you’ll have to stay here, on this Earth.”

Mon-El’s smile faded, too. “Oh.”

“Just until we can figure out a way to make home… not kill you.”

Mon-El nodded. “Home. I like that. _Our_ home.”

His arms attempted to tug her down into the bed. She could tell he was still a little weak, but he was so much better. And that was all that mattered. She joined him on the bed, feeling bliss as his arms surrounded her. Her head rested on his chest. This was peace.

“Do you think this world has licorice?” Mon-El asked, breaking the silence. Kara grinned into his shirt.

* * *

They fell into a routine; it wasn’t perfect, but it worked for the short-term. Kara visited S.T.A.R. labs almost every day, and spent many of her nights there with Mon-El. Mon-El would tell her about his exploits as a guest member of Team Flash, or about little things that he knew would make her laugh. Kara would tell him about her day, sometimes bringing J’onn or Winn or Alex along. More than anything, though; Kara reveled in _him_ , and how she hadn’t lost him.

After a few weeks had passed, Caitlin walked in on the two of them one evening.

“I thought you’d gone home,” Mon-El frowned, looking up from their board game.

Caitlin held up a small cup, filled with a glowing blue liquid, triumphantly. “I managed to isolate the portion of your DNA that coded for a lead allergy, Mon-El. This,” she gestured to the cup, “will repair it on a cellular level. You should be cured.”

He looked at her in amazement. “Caitlin, thank you – I don’t even know what to say…” Caitlin smiled.

“Say you’ll come by and visit every now and then. We’ll miss you. Now here, drink this.” She handed him the glowing liquid.

“Of course I’ll visit, you guys are great.” Mon-El downed the cup’s contents. “Gah, tastes… Blue.” He looked at Kara, and his softened into what looked to Kara like pure happiness.

“How long until it takes effect?” Kara asked.

Caitlin gave them a kind look. “It should be instantaneous. I’m quite confident in it. But if there’s any trouble, you can just come back.”

Kara put her arm around Mon-El. “ _Thank you_ , Caitlin. Thank you to everyone. Truly.”

Caitlin waved her hand. “Please, happy to help. We all were.”

Kara pulled out the small portal initiator that she had been keeping in her pocket for the past few weeks. “Ready to go home?”

Mon-El nodded, smiling. He threaded his fingers through Kara’s as they walked through the portal and back into their world.

The portal deposited them in Kara’s _(their)_ apartment. She felt a brief pang of worry watching Mon-El, but he seemed fine. His gaze traveled over the place, resting on the windows overlooking the city. Their city. After a few moments, his eyes returned to Kara.

“It’s good to be home,” he said finally. She put her hand on his cheek, knowing what he meant. S.T.A.R. labs had been fine, but this is where they belonged. There would be time tomorrow to go to the D.E.O. and talk to everyone – but right now, this was perfect. And when their lips met, his arms coming up to encircle her waist, everything was right with the world again.

**Author's Note:**

> So I recently re-watched season 2 of Supergirl, and I don't know if anyone's written something like this before, but I just kept wondering why this wasn't a solution. And I'm always happy to contribute more hurt Mon-El and Karamel, because not enough of either of those exists. Cheers!


End file.
